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Chief Justice Anwar Usman opening a technical assistance program on the 2020 election of governors, regents, and mayors virtually alongside Secretary-General M. Guntur Hamzah, Monday (30/11/2020) from the Constitutional Court. Photo by Humas MK/Ifa.

JAKARTA, Public Relations of the Constitutional Court—Chief Justice Anwar Usman officially opened a technical assistance program on the 2020 election of governors, regents, and mayors for the election tickets on Monday evening, November 30, 2020. The event was organized by the Constitutional Court’s Pancasila and Constitution Education Center in Cisarua, Bogor.

“Don’t make the pilkada [regional head election] an event that divides the nation. It is an event to select the best leaders in each region. We should believe that whoever are elected are chosen by the Almighty. Those who haven’t succeed [should take it] not as failure but a delayed success,” he said in his keynote speech.

He said that the people’s involvement in the government through the election is inevitable. They have the highest sovereignty in the state. “Only the people have the authority to elect their representatives in public offices, both legislative and executive. Therefore, in order to ensure the democratic process and maintain the interests of various groups, the only binding consensus is the Constitution. This concept is what we know as the nomocracy,” he explained.

In many countries aside from Indonesia, Justice Anwar said, democracy and nomocracy go hand in hand with the hope that they can complement one another. Regardless of the debate about pilkada whether it is part of the general elections or not, its process is an implementation of the ideology of democracy and nomocracy that lie within the Constitution. This is why Indonesia is a law-based democracy. This is reflected in the amendment to Article 1 paragraph (2) of the 1945 Constitution, which states that sovereignty is vested in the people and is exercised according to the Constitution. Sovereignty used to be exercised by the MPR (People’s Consultative Assembly).

“With the [amendment], the sovereignty was returned to the people to elect the president and vice president directly. It also impacted the election of regional heads, which used to be elected by each region’s DPRD [Regional Legislative Council]. Since the amendment to the 1945 Constitution especially Article 18 paragraph (4), governors, regents, and mayors are elected democratically,” he explained.

Aside from the implementation and supervision of the election by the General Elections Commission (KPU) and Bawaslu (Elections Supervisory Agency), there is a settlement mechanism for each type of violation at each stage of the election. Violation of the code of ethics is handled by the DKPP (Election Organizer Ethics Council); administration violations by Bawaslu, criminal violations by the Integrated Law Enforcement (Gakkumdu) and district courts, state administrative disputes by the PTUN (State Administrative Court), while election results disputes by the Constitutional Court (MK).

Beneficial

Meanwhile, Secretary-General M. Guntur Hamzah hoped the technical assistance program will be beneficial, especially for the winning tickets, and support the Constitutional Court. He said the program aims at improving and unifying the public’s understanding and perceptions about the Constitution, the Constitutional Court, the Constitutional Court decisions, and other constitutional issues. In addition, it aims to improve knowledge and understanding on the procedure to handle disputes over the 2020 pilkada results.

Writer: Nano Tresna Arfana
Editor: Lulu Anjarsari
Translator: Yuniar Widiastuti (NL)

Translation uploaded on 12/05/2020 21:03 WIB

Disclaimer: The original version of the news is in Indonesian. In case of any differences between the English and the Indonesian version, the Indonesian version will prevail.

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